The Association of Southeast Asian Football (AFF) has announced the refereeing team for the match between Vietnam and Singapore in the second match of Group A of the ASEAN Championship 2026 taking place on July 31st at My Dinh Stadium.
Accordingly, the main referee is Mr. Hiroki Kasahara (Japan). The two assistant referees include Mr. Michiyama Satoshi (Japan) and Mr. Rawut Nakarit (Thailand), while the fourth referee is Mr. Wiwat Jumpaoon (Thailand).
Notably, the VAR referee team will not be directly present in Hanoi to officiate the match. Instead, all video support work is carried out from the VAR center located in Thailand.
According to the operating method of the ASEAN Cup 2026 Organizing Committee, image signals from My Dinh stadium will be transmitted directly to the VAR center. Here, VAR referees will monitor and analyze situations that need to be considered such as goals, penalties, direct red cards or incorrectly identifying violating players.
When a situation needs intervention is detected, the VAR team will contact referee Hiroki Kasahara. The final decision still belongs to the referee after consulting or directly reviewing the situation on the VAR screen located outside the stadium.
This is a difference compared to many international tournaments. At the FIFA World Cup 2026, the VAR room is located right at the match venue, while in the V.League, the Organizing Committee uses mobile VAR cars placed at each stadium.
For ASEAN Cup 2026, AFF chose a centralized VAR operating model. The stadiums are only equipped with cameras and screens for referees, and the entire process of signal processing and situation assessment is carried out at the VAR center in Thailand.
ASEAN Cup 2026 is the second time the tournament has applied VAR technology, after the first deployment in the 2024 tournament. Maintaining the centralized VAR model is expected to help unify management and improve the quality of referees in all matches.
